After breakfast, Remus hadn't let go of Ivory's hand for the longest time. He had tried to get her to eat again and she'd argued with him, telling him that she just couldn't stomach anything at the moment. Even then, he'd held her hand. It was only when both of their palms had become sweaty and they'd had to head to class and the others looked at them weirdly that they both finally let go.

Ivory thought that the person who would stay glued to her that day would've been Lily, but it wasn't; it was Remus. The entire day, he was a sweetheart (but he normally was a sweetheart, so that wasn't a surprise). All through class, he made sure to sit near her. Ivory noticed that he looked pretty pale that day, so she thought perhaps he was nervous about something. She didn't ask, she just let him stay by her side. Only when McGonagall asked to speak with Ivory after Transfiguration class did Remus leave her side to wait at the door instead.

All of Ivory's professors were being particularly cautious around her that day. It was completely obvious to Ivory that they had been talking about her amongst themselves. She could tell, just by looking at their faces, how much they pitied her for her parents' deaths. Professor McGonagall was the same as the others. It was strange to see sympathy on McGonagall's face.

"Miss Perkins," said the tall witch, looking down at the girl. "Are you all right?"

"Of course not," said Ivory, staring at her blankly.

"Well... Yes, that's to be expected, I suppose..." Ivory got the sense that McGonagall wasn't sure what to say to her. "I was just wondering if you had any more questions about the situation. If you do, I can certainly tell you anything I know."

Ivory swallowed, remembering how abruptly she had left McGonagall when she'd first found out. She had left without asking questions and without wondering what was going to happen next. Her world had been destroyed and she hadn't even wanted to know what the cause was. But now she did. Now she had the opportunity to find out and she wouldn't let that slip away.

"Do they know who did it? Did they catch the Death Eaters?" Ivory asked quickly.

"No," said McGonagall. "Unfortunately, the Ministry arrived at the scene much too late and every trace of the Death Eaters was gone."

Disappointment clouded Ivory's mind. She shook her head as if to rid the disappointment from it. "Where are their b-bodies?"

"The Ministry of Magic has seen to it that their bodies remain safe until the funeraー"

"Funeral?" Ivory interrupted incredulously. "How can there be a funeral when no one but me would even go?"

McGonagall looked startled. "I have a hard time seeing how that would be true..."

"Oh, Professor, but it is," said Ivory, shaking her head. "You don't understand... I come from the most closed-off family ever. Neither of my parents had siblings; therefore I have no first cousins, aunts or uncles. All four of my grandparents are dead and, on top of that, my parents actually had no friends. They had their neighbours, but they rarely talked to any of them."

"Miss Perkins, those who attend a funeral are not there only to support the dead, but to support the living that have been affected by said death," McGonagall reassured her. "I'm certain that you have friends that would be willing to come in order to support you."

Ivory licked her lips and clenched her hands together in front of her. "It would be during school, wouldn't it? The funeral, I mean." The older witch nodded in response before Ivory continued. "How would I be able to go and to bring my friends if it meant we had to get out of school?"

"It is my understanding that Professor Dumbledore would be more than willing to give you permission to leave school the weekend of the funeral. You will be allowed to bring friends... Five or so."

"Seven."

"I beg your pardon?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Seven. I need to bring seven friends."

Ivory stared hard at her professor. She wasn't about to back down. She had to bring seven friends, she had to have all of them there. If they wouldn't all come to help hold her together, she would lose her mind.

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Yes, I'm sure that will be allowed."

Ivory breathed a sigh of relief. Then one last important question came to mind. "Professor McGonagall, where will I go? Where am I supposed to stay?"

Again, McGonagall looked shocked my her question. She put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Miss Perkins... once you graduate Hogwarts, you will be of age. You will have a job and be able to support yourself."

Ivory flinched. How could she have forgotten? Real life was coming fast and she wasn't ready for it. She was unprepared to have to live alone, unprepared for having to rely on no one else but herself.

By that point, Ivory felt stupid, but she still felt compelled to ask another question. "What about during the Christmas holidays?"

"You may stay at Hogwarts if you wish to," said McGonagall. "A few students remain at school during Christmas. Otherwise, you have the option of going to a friend's house for the holidays."

The redhead felt sick. She had never spent a single Christmas without her parents.

"Is that all, Miss Perkins?" Professor McGonagall asked her.

Ivory nodded slowly. "Th-thank you, Professor," she said, without looking at her. Almost robotically, she walked right out of the classroom, past where Remus stood waiting for her.

"Ivory!" Remus called after her, jogging to catch up with her.

"Oh!" Ivory whirled around to look at him. "Remus... Sorry, I promise you're not invisible, it's just I... I forgot you were there. I'm also really out of it. Kind of feeling as though I drank five bottles of Firewhisky."

Remus fell into step beside her.

"Thanks for waiting for me, Remmy."

Remus's eyes widened and he blushed. "Oh, er... you're welcome." He gulped, his throat bobbing. Ivory watched as he scratched his eyebrow nervously.

"What's wrong?" she asked, smiling slightly. "Do you not like when I call you 'Remmy'?"

"No, I do!" he said quickly and abruptly.

Ivory chuckled. "But you get annoyed when James, Sirius and Peter call you that... Ohhh, I get it... You only like it when I call you that."

"What? I—I'm—it's... erm... I..."

She giggled. "You make it so fun to tease you. Getting all nervous and awkward... It's actually cute."

She watched Remus's face turn shocked. He cleared his throat before changing the subject. "So... the others are all waiting down by the Black Lake. You want to go?"

She nodded.

He continued. "It's cold, er..." He dug inside his bag and pulled out two jumpers. His favourite one, the one she had worn the previous day, he handed to her.

Ivory's heart practically burst through her chest as she took it from him. She put her own bag down and pulled it over her head, half wishing that he had put it on her himself, the way he had done so the day before.

When they reached the grounds, they spotted James, Sirius, Peter, Lily, Alice and Marlene sitting by the edge of the Black Lake. It was windy, causing the water to ripple and the girls' and Sirius's long hair to fly all over the place. When Remus and Ivory approached, they all turned to look in their direction.

"Well, well, well," said Sirius. "Look who finally decided to join us... And we thought James and Lily were bad—" He was interrupted when Lily punched him in the arm.

Remus and Ivory both ignored him and sat down a short distance away from each other, both red in the face. Ivory zoned out for a while, thinking about the funeral. She hugged her knees to her chest, wondering how she would ask them all to come with her.

"Mar, what are you doing?" Alice asked incredulously. "It's freezing!"

Marlene had taken her shoes and socks off and was dipping her feet in the water of the Black Lake. "What?" she said in response to the judgemental stares from her friends. "Yeah, it's cold as hell. Who dares me to jump in?"

"Me," said Sirius, raising his hand in the air lazily.

"Well, I don't even need you to dare me. I dare myself."

James turned to Sirius. "I know she won't do it," he told his best friend.

"Oh yeah? You wanna bet, Potter?" Marlene challenged.

"Absolutely. If you jump in, I'll give you a Galleon. If you don't jump in, Peter gets to push you in. See, either way, you end up in the Black Lake," said James, smirking.

Upon hearing his name, Peter sat up quickly. "I don't want to push her in."

James rolled his eyes. "Fine, then I'll do it. I was just doing you a favour, letting you do the honours—"

"I don't want to go to the funeral," Ivory interrupted their squabble, causing everyone to turn to look at her.

All seven of them blinked at her. Finally, Sirius spoke. "What do you mean you don't want to go?"

"I mean exactly that. I don't want to go. I hate funerals. I hated them when I had already been to four of them before I turned ten. I hate how so many people who didn't even love the person who died just show up there, pretending to care. I hate it, I hate it so much. I don't even want to have a funeral for my parents."

Lily's mouth fell open and she crawled over to Ivory, sitting down in front of her. "You don't mean that," she said. "You have to have a funeral for them and you have to go. If you don't, you'll regret it. It might allow you to get some closure."

"Closure? Closure won't help. Nothing will ever make it okay."

They went quiet again. Lily looked away, catching Alice's eye and mentally asking what she could possibly do.

"Can you all come too?" Ivory finally asked them quietly. "I want all of you there... McGonagall said it'll be one weekend and we can get permission to leave school just to go. Please."

"I'm there," Lily said, Alice and Marlene nodding.

Ivory turned to the boys.

"'Course we'll come," said Sirius.

Remus offered her a small smile.

They spent the rest of the day together. All eight of them. It was one of those rare days during their N.E.W.T. year where they didn't have homework on a school night. Until dinner, they spent their time by the Black Lake, talking and laughing and getting frostbite (Marlene actually ended up jumping in the freezing water, earning two Galleons from James out of respect for her daring).

They returned to the common room. After a while, the boys rose and said they had to leave to go somewhere.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked. "It's after dark."

"We've got detention with Flitwick," said Sirius immediately. "Cheerio."

It left Ivory terribly confused until she looked out the window and saw the full moon looming in the sky. It hit her why Remus had seemed rather pale all day. She told the three girls to wait there for her and, completely on an impulse, she bolted after James, Sirius, Remus and Peter.

They saw her coming just as they were about to exit the common room through the portrait hole. Remus turned around and she grabbed his arm.

"Remus!" she said. "I kn—"

She didn't know why she stopped herself. It might've been because of the way the other three boys turned around and assumed protective stances. It might've been because of the flash of fear that ran through Remus's eyes. It might've been the way his face fell and became, if possible, even paler. Whatever the case may have been, she stopped herself.

"N-n-never mind," she said, letting go of his arm. "I completely forgot what I was about to say, it slipped my mind! Anyway, you should go, you don't want to be late for Flitwick."